OMAHA, Neb. – Matt Purke had four million reasons to enter professional baseball last June.

He had one reason to attend college.

He’s waited all season for this, through 17 starts and a nation-leading 16 wins and zero losses, his chance to send the TCU Horned Frogs to the College World Series championship series.

TCU’s fabulous freshman shut down UCLA for 6<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>3 innings before giving way to the Horned Frogs’ bullpen, which closed out a 6-2 win in front of 22,334 on Friday at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium.

The teams will meet again at 11a.m. today to determine half of the championship series matchup.

“This place is an adventure on its own; you never know what’s going to happen here,” said Purke, who spurned a $4 million signing bonus from the Texas Rangers as the No. 14 pick in the 2009 draft. “But it’s just the same ballpark. Just another day of baseball and you’ve got to attack it the same way.

“I was able to go out today a little different than what I’m used to throwing, but hey, I’ll take ground-ball outs all day.”

Purke retired the first 11 UCLA batters before a fourth-inning walk to Blair Dunlap. TCU staked its star pitcher an early 3-0 lead, with Purke retiring nine of the first 11 batters by groundout and the other two by strikeout.

“He threw a great game,” UCLA leadoff man Niko Gallego said. “He has his own rhythm, and he stuck to his rhythm and got a lot of ground balls. That’s his game.”

A bunt single by Chris Giovinazzo in the fifth inning broke up Purke’s no-hitter, and a Brett Krill RBI single two batters later gave the Bruins their first run. They later closed the gap to 3-2.

But UCLA relief pitcher Garett Claypool, who came in for struggling starter Rob Rasmussen, gave up two late home runs.

Rasmussen, from Pasadena Poly High, was shaky in his first start since putting the Bruins in the series with an 8-1 win over Cal State Fullerton in the Los Angeles Super Regional on June 14. Rasmussen allowed two singles and two walks in the first inning, including a walk to Taylor Featherston that scored Bryan Holaday.

The junior allowed seven baserunners through two innings before eventually giving way to Claypool with one out in the fifth. Rasmussen allowed six hits, three walks and three runs and struck out six.